Craving for a steamy bowl of hot noodle soup? This Beef Udon is absolutely heart-warming and is my go-to Japanese comfort dish. Tender sliced beef on top of thick chewy udon noodles in a savory broth. What’s not to love?
When my family visited Takayama in Japan in 2015, we had the opportunity to enjoy this warm udon noodle soup with Hida beef. Made of freshly cooked udon noodles in a fragrant hot soup, topped with sweet juicy sliced beef, the beef udon was delicious and perfect. Today, we are going to recreate this Beef Udon (肉うどん) back in our own kitchen.
Despite its simplicity, this noodle soup is packed with flavor! The savory broth, seasoned tender beef, caramelized scallion, and chewy smooth noodles — that’s all you really need for a well-composed bowl of noodle soup.
How to Make Beef Udon
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Udon noodles – Can be frozen, fresh, or dried. Wish to learn more about this noodle? Click here.
- Thinly sliced beef – It works great with “shabu shabu beef” from a Japanese market, but you can always slice your own.
- Negi (Japanese long onion) – You can use green onion as a substitute.
- Dashi (Japanese soup stock) – More about it below.
- Condiments: soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar.
- Optional toppings: narutomaki (fish cake), green onion, mitsuba (Japanese herb), etc.
With basic Japanese condiments, you can easily make this delicious noodle soup at home.
Overview: Cooking Step
- Prepare dashi broth and add the seasonings to make udon soup broth.
- Stir fry the negi (or green onion) and thinly sliced beef. Season them with soy sauce and sugar.
- Cook udon noodles according to the package instructions and drain well.
- Assemble udon noodles and broth in individual bowls. Top with cooked beef and other toppings of your choice.
All About Dashi – Japanese Soup Stock
The key to the most flavorful broth for beef udon is dashi — the quintessential Japanese soup stock. Dashi is clear, delicate, mildly sweet, and full of umami. It is the base flavor for a superb bowl of beef udon.
I have a complete guide on how to make dashi and a video tutorial below.
I often make a big batch of homemade dashi so I can reach for it anytime when I cook udon soup or all my other Japanese dishes.
How to Make Dashi
For those who had never made dashi, it might sound intimidating. But trust me, it’s easier to make dashi than any other broth out there; all you do is drop the ingredients in water and let them steep. That’s it!
You have 3 methods to choose from:
- Dashi powder – The easiest and quickest (1 minute!), but the flavor may not be the best.
- Dashi packet – It has good flavor and very convenient (5 minutes).
- Dashi making from scratch – The best broth. And even with this method, you only need 20 minutes!
Is there any dashi that’s vegan?
Yes! Among the five types of dashi broth, two of them are vegan-friendly.
Make Homemade Udon Noodles
If you have extra time, I recommend making Homemade Udon Noodles from scratch! All you need is flour, water, and salt.
The texture of the dough is much firmer than bread dough, so traditionally, the Japanese used our feet to knead the udon noodles. Isn’t it fun? Check out the post to see how we make udon noodles in Japan.
Tableware from Musubi Kiln
I’ve partnered with a great ceramic online shop from Japan called Musubi Kiln. You will get 10% off with a coupon code JUSTONECOOKBOOK for your purchase. In this post, I’ve used:
Hungry for More Udon Noodle Recipes?
Don’t miss out on these delicious recipes with udon noodles:
- Yaki Udon (Stir-Fried Udon Noodle)
- Curry Udon
- Nabeyaki Udon (Hot Pot Style Udon Noodle Served in Donabe)
- Kitsune Udon
- Miso Nikomi Udon
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Beef Udon
Video
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc.)
- ½ negi (long green onion) (use only the white part of negi; you can also use 2 green onions)
- 6-8 oz thinly sliced beef (chuck or rib eye) (or slice your own meat)
- 2 servings udon noodles (6.3 oz/180 g dry udon noodles; 1.1 lb/500 g frozen/boiled udon noodles)
For Beef
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
For Soup
- 2½ cups dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more) (I'll show you how to make quick dashi using a dashi packet in this recipe. You can purchase it here.)
- 1½ Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 1 tsp sugar
- ⅛ tsp kosher or sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
For Toppings
- 3 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (optional)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 4 slices narutomaki (fish cakes) (optional)
- shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (for a spicy kick)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for udon noodles. Once boiling, keep it on low heat until you're ready to cook the noodles.
To Make the Soup Broth
- In a medium saucepan, add water and a dashi packet. Bring it to a boil over medium heat.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then squeeze the dashi packet and discard.
- Add soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and salt and mix it all together. Cover the lid (don't let the soup evaporate) and remove it from the heat.
To Prepare Ingredients
- Cut the white part of the negi diagonally into ½ inch (1.3 cm) slices. Set aside.
- [Optional] Thinly slice the mitsuba.
- Cut the green onion into thin slices. Transfer the green onion and mitsuba to a small plate/bowl for topping.
- Cut the narutomaki (fish cake) diagonally into 4 thin slices. Cut the thinly sliced shabu shabu beef in half.
To Cook the Beef
- Heat the frying pan on medium heat. When it's hot, add oil and negi.
- When the negi is golden brown and tender, add the meat and cook until no longer pink.
- Add sugar and soy sauce.
- Stir fry the meat until it is well coated with the seasoning. Remove from the heat.
To Boil Udon Noodles
- Cook the udon noodles in boiling water according to the package instructions. For frozen udon noodles, cook for 1 minute while they are frozen. Drain well and rinse quickly to remove the starch.
To Serve
- Serve well-drained udon noodles in individual serving bowls and pour the hot udon soup over the noodles.
- Place the stir-fried beef, narutomaki (fish cake), green onion, and mitsuba on top. If you like it spicy, sprinkle shichimi togarashi. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the stir-fried beef and udon noodles soup separately in airtight containers and store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on November 8, 2015. It’s been updated with new images and video.
